Guest post by Ashley Phillips.
There is no single, definitive answer about the length of time it takes an average website page to rank on Google. There are simply far too many variables at play when it comes to Google rankings to provide any one-size-fits-all answer to that question.
The team at Ahrefs investigated various features of top-ranked pages on Google and concluded that the typical top-10 ranking page is more than two years old, while the first-ranked page is usually about three years old. In fact, the study showed that less than a quarter (22%) of pages that currently rank in the top 10 were created within the past year.
To determine how long it takes for a page to rank in Google, Ahrefs tracked the position history of two million randomly selected pages and, after crunching the numbers, found that a mere 5.7% of the studied pages ranked in the Top 10 on Google search results within one year for at least one keyword.
The study also showed how websites with high Domain Rating (DR) tend to perform far better than those with a low DR.
Zooming in on the 5.7% of top-ranked pages, the team was able to calculate the approximate amount of time it took these pages to reach one of the top positions. A number of other interesting findings emerged from the Ahrefs study, including the different impact high-volume and low-volume keywords have on Google rankings. The relevance of these findings to newly-created pages is also discussed.
To learn more about the research methodology and results of this insightful study, check out this informative infographic created by The Website Group.
Ashley Phillips is Managing Director of The Website Group, a UK based Digital Agency specialising in pay monthly business web design, Search Engine Optimisation (SEO) and Social Media Marketing.